Note: This episode was intended to air on January 28, but has been rescheduled to February 4. To read more about this, click here.
It’s been an incredibly long hellatus for us poor Supernatural fans. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get an advance look at the new episode that will be airing on January 28. I can’t tell you a lot about the episode under pain of death, but there are a few things I can tease for you.
The first is that the sneak peek released by The CW (watch it here) confirms that Sam’s soul has been returned. But what’s the state of it? That’s where the pain of death rears its ugly head. I can’t tell you the answer, but I can tell you that you will most definitely have a newfound appreciation for how Jared Padalecki played Sam in the first half of season 6. The subtleties in his RoboSam go right back to the first moment we saw him in the season premiere. The interaction between the brothers now is very different from those we saw in the first half of the season.
And, oh, the comedy! I’ll admit, despite the insanely hilarious episode ‘Clap Your Hands If You Believe’, the first half of season 6 has been rather light on the combination of drama and physical comedy that Supernatural blends together so effectively. But this episode has it in spades, coupled with a lot of terrific one-liners and snappy comebacks (with a Comic Con reference!), and a scene with Dean that will make you laugh out loud. Basically, it’s Dean versus a stone and it’s much funnier than it sounds.
As for the case and the monster-of-the-week, it’s interesting enough to keep you engaged. It’s classic Supernatural, with glimpses at a scary creature and girls who need rescuing. But what’s really important is that we learn a great deal more about the overarching mythology of season 6, as well as the new players in the game. In my midseason review, I wrote that I was concerned that the writers might simply drop the importance of Purgatory now that Crowley was dead and no longer searching for it. Shame on me for doubting the writers! Season 6 has been different from previous seasons, with not giving us most of the important mythological information in the first few episodes. So far it’s been primarily hints: Purgatory, the alphas, etc. But it’s all starting to come together. Obviously we don’t have all of the information yet, but we’re certainly given more than the teases we’ve glimpsed so far.
Fans of the now-deceased soap opera Passions will get a nice surprise. The actress who played Ivy Crane (sworn enemy of Teresa Lopez-Fitzgerald-Crane-Winthrop, a.k.a. the wife of Smallville’s Justin Hartley) makes a guest appearance as a professor with some interesting information. She does awesome facial expressions and she’s part of the aforementioned hilarious scene with Dean.
Castiel fans will also be pleased. He appears for a short time (though in more than one scene), but he plays a crucial role in the episode overall. I also suspect, with these new players that we’re introduced to, that we’ll be seeing more of Castiel in episodes to come.
As a final hint, Supernatural fans will be nothing but pleased with this episode. It really feels like the beginning of a new chapter within season 6 – but a chapter that feels very familiar at the same time.
Oh yeah, and we now have 100% confirmation that Sam has longer arms than Dean. Just in case you were dying to know.
Check out our Supernatural page to read more spoilers about upcoming episodes.
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Considering that Jared Padalecki is the only one that has had anything to do this season, I just have to wonder why Gamble bothered signing Jensen up for this season and next season. Even in this episode, Dean gets to 'gasp!' stand by and watch! What a surprise. This season is a failure as far as I'm concerned, well to the Dean fans. The Sam fans have plenty to celebrate, since the whole season is dedicated to Sam and everything they have ever wanted for him, including everything that was Dean's, is now, of course, Sam's. What a crappy season.
Yeah, it's pretty sweet to finally have Sam as more than a chess piece after five seasons. Thanks for finally sharing the limelight, guys!
I tend to agree that the show has been very Dean-heavy over the years, particularly from season 3 onwards. I think that Dean plays an equal part this season, but perhaps his journey isn't as obvious as Sam's has been. But I do think it's time Sam had more of a role in the first half of the season.
The Sam girls complained when it was the Dean show and now the Dean girls are complaining that it's the Sam show. I guess you can't please everyone. I kind of just wish people would realize that it's about both of the brothers.
Totally agree here. Thank you for posting this.
Cmon, the season's awesome. It's about the brothers. And your comment makes no sense.
I’ve discovered that these whiny Dean/Jensen fans are actually the same small group of people posting the same crap on every website they go on. There aren’t actually that many people who feel the way they do, hence the reason the ratings are still good enough to garner a seventh season, not to mention if these few were as dissatisfied as they claim to be then surely they’d stop watching?
Also I seriously doubt Jensen would appreciate these kinds of comments, it’s his career, his life and his choice. No one forces him to stay on the show, no one forced him to extend his contract he did it because he enjoys his job, he enjoys being Dean and I’m also sure that if he had a problem with his character he would voice those concerns himself. Something I believe he has already done and has already had an affect. I don’t think he really needs the likes of you championing him.
Do yourself and the rest of us a favour-if you don’t like it don’t watch it and certainly don’t feel the need to whine about it every second of the day. Get a goddam life.
One last thing please stop lumping all Dean/Jensen fans together, not all of them are as pathetic and whiny as you. You’re doing the rest of them a disservice but coming across as a brat.
LOL Thank you for posting this, tvmonkey. I totally agree and I totally love you for posting that.
That being said I also agree with your last three paragraphs heavily. THANK YOU!!
A newfound appreciation for how Jared played Sam in the first half of the season? I'm confused. And the subtleties of his character? That makes it sound like his character has hardly changed doesn't it? And they go right back to the first moment we saw him in the season premiere? I don't understand what they're trying to say here…Maybe I'm just so incredibly sleep-deprived that it has my brain twisted like a pretzel.
Sorry, maybe I wasn't very clear. I guess what I'm trying to say is that after watching this episode you'll really appreciate how different Sam was in the first half of the season and how differently Jared played him while soulless right from the very beginning. But I don't want to give away too much more than that, though it should become clear when you watch the episode. Does that help?
Yes! Yes it does. Thank you very very much for explaining that to me. I greatly appreciate it, and I understand not wanting to give too much away. I don't want you too either, believe me! Thanks again for posting this up!
Hm, is this a hug hint? As in a real one with feeling this time? Feels like it:)
Man I am super pumped for some SPN, but I just found out it (and Smallville) got postponed a week. I was all ready to go tomorrow night, but now I just have sit and be pissed at the CW for another week.